


The Cats Key

by Knittingmouse



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Arranged Marriage, F/M, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-27 19:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30127446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knittingmouse/pseuds/Knittingmouse
Summary: In defiance of his father choosing his wife Adrien has decided to hold a contest to find his bride. If someone brings the key that is hanging on a stray cat's collar to the estate he will marry them.Marinette has spent most of her time alone since Lila ruined her reputation and now she has this cute stray that keeps hanging around her house. Normally she wouldn't mind the company, but it's the contest cat and she really doesn't need that drama in her life.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 12
Kudos: 87





	1. The Rules

The Cat’s Key

Chapter One: The Rules

The posters showed up overnight. They were everywhere, on walls, fence posts, and every door with enough room to proudly proclaim the news that Lord Agreste’s heir was looking for a wife. And he was proving himself once again to be an eccentric man by forgoing the typical ceremony of presenting the daughters of noble families by offering a contest to win the place as his wife.

The key to the Agreste estate house was hung from the collar of a black cat. Catch the cat and become the bride. It seemed easy enough. After all how hard would it be for a girl to catch a cat?

“This is such a bad idea” Plagg complained as he paced in Adrien’s bedroom. He pulled at the cuff of his sleeves, trying to straighten nonexistent creases from his shirt.

Adrien grinned in response, turning away from the window to face his friend. “My father will hate it. But he’s not here to stop me.” He brushed his normally well kept blond hair out of his face and tugged the cravat loose from his collar and tossed it onto the table beside him. He hated the purple color, but his father insisted that it matched his complexion so his wardrobe was filled with it.

“You better hope that this is over before he returns from his trip to the capital,” Plagg continued, ignoring him and moving forward to pick upthe cravat. He looped it around Adrien’s neck and fixed the knot. “If you don’t have someone picked by then you’ll get stuck with the girl he brings back”

Adrien glanced out the window over his shoulder, at the perfect view of the city down the hill, crossing his arms as he leaned against the table. “Someone that puts the effort to catch a cat is still better than some stuck up lady that Father is using to expand his land holdings.”

Plagg didn’t respond, choosing to smooth the collar on Adrien’s jacket. It was such a bad plan, sure to backfire somehow.

Marinette read the words for a second and a third time before they clicked in her head. He’s looking for a wife, she thought. She chewed at her thumbnail. It was a nervous habit from her childhood that she had yet to break. It was too much to hope for, but the fantasy was easy to fall into.

She had only met him once when he had come to her parents bakery to hide from Chloé Bourgeois, the daughter of the richest landowner in the city after Lord Agreste. Everyone knew she was going to be the next Lady Agreste. She had bragged about it since they were all children. Except...

Marinette shook her head, pigtails bouncing, and returned her attention to her shopping. Pulling the list out ofthe basket hanging from her arm she mentally checked off her purchases. She needed to get some more yeast and rosemary before she headed back. She tucked the list in the small pocket in her apron so she wouldn’t lose it and hefted the basket onto her hip as she headed toward the square. The gravel crunches under her feet, poking the small hole in her left shoe. She needed to get new ones soon, but the expense was too much right now. Maybe next month if she was frugal.

The market square was buzzing from the news, small crowds of all ages gathered around the few stalls and shops.Chloé could be seen hovering under the shade of a stall canopy, even from Marinette‘s spot across the courtyard. Her bright yellow dress practically glowed against the blues, greens and browns that her following wore. Marinette rolled her eyes and ducked her head as Chloe’s voice filtered over the crowd noise. Bragging again it seemed.

“...didn’t want to seem like he was showing favoritism towards me when he was picking his bride.” She was saying as she twirled her hair. Most of the blond locks were in an immaculate updo save for a single curl on her right side that she would twist around her fingers. She was sitting on Nathaniel’s art stall and would turn and dip her bust in his direction from time to time causing him to blush and duck away. “Besides it’s not like anyone else could even afford the dowry anyway. Right Lila?” She sneered across the path at Lila’s own gathering in front of the fruit stand.

Alya pat Lila’s shoulder sympathetically and murmured to her. Probably something about how Chloé was crazy given that Lila had been telling stories of her secret engagement to Adrien for the past year. Lila popped a strawberry into her mouth as she stared down Chloé.

Marinette caught Alya’s eye briefly before she slipped into the nearest shop.Marinette hugged her basket closer. She couldn’t be out there right now. After Lila moved into town her friendship with Alya had waned into a distant and strained relationship. Now Alya could barely look at Marinette without a sneer and a cruel word.

She sighed as she sank against the door to the shop. Closing her eyes as she clutched her basket to her chest and counted her breaths. No one had seen her, no one said anything, everything was fine.

“Marinette? Is that you, dear?” Nadja called from the back room.

“Yeah,” she called back, moving to the counter. “Sorry I came in to hide from the crowd.” She glanced at the fabrics on the wall shelves.

Nadja left the workroom, placing some pins in the cushion she had attached to her wrist. “Is this about that contest I saw posted about? I tell you if I was ten years younger...” She smirked in Marinette’s direction and winked.

Marinette blushed. “I saw Alya and Lila and I panicked.”

Nadja knew about Lila’s lies about her skills at baking, the arts and everything else she claimed to have learned from the capital. Marinette had been accused being jealous and harassing Lila and before she could present any evidence to disprove her stories she had become an outcast. After that she moved from her parents home over the bakery and into a small cottage near the forest when they could no longer deny the lack of customers were because of her.

Nadja nodded, understanding her distress. “What do you need to buy?” She asked innocently as she reached for the basket.

Marinette sighed, handing over the basket and pulling the list from her apron pocket, knowing that it wasn’t worth the fight. Nadja was one of the few people that would still talk to her. They had an unspoken agreement that Marinette would help her with some of her orders in exchange for some shopping if it was ever a problem.

“Thank you.” Marinette passed her coin purse, but Nadja waved it away.

Marinette traded places with Nadja, watching the shop while she waited. She picked through some of the buttons in the small cabinet on the counter. There were some new wooden ones that she hadn’t seen before that would look nice on the caplet she was designing.

It was still early when Marinette finally returned to the bakery, using the back door to avoid being seen.

“I’m back Papa!” She called into the kitchen.

Tom was pulling bread from the oven, but stopped to kiss his daughter’s brow as she started to empty her basket on the table.

“How was the trip?”

Marinette winced. “Nadja helped me again.”

Tom nodded. “Your mother told me about that contest. Are you going to try it?”

Marinette shock her head. “I don’t want to marry a stranger Papa. Even if he is a Lord.”

They both ignored the fact that her marriage prospects had dwindled to nothing. Even Nathaniel showed a lack of interest, after years of professing his love when he realized how her reputation could ruin his tentative artistry. The Bourgeois family was his patron and anything that upset Chloé upset Mr Bourgeois.

“Is Fu’s order ready?” She asked, quick to change the subject.

Tom nodded and gestured to the wrapped box. “Be careful. If that cat is wandering around people might act crazy”

“I will,” Marinette promised. She grabbed the box and dashed out the door.

It wasn’t until she was halfway down the path that she realized that the black cat she ran passed had a key on its collar. She slowed and turned. The cat had also turned to stare at her. It looked surprised, if a cat could show emotion. It would be easy to grab it. Marinette shook the thought from her head and turned away before the idea could take hold. She needed to deliver the bread and pastries to Mister Fu.

It would be better for her to forget this contest nonsense. Even if she did catch the cat she didn’t think he would follow through with the agreement. Not with other options like Chloé or lying Lila. Marinette’s reputation was too tainted and not even a Lord could over look it.


	2. Second Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say thanks to everyone who pointed out my spelling. I'm not super great at catching stuff like that and spellcheck will only let me know if something is a word and not if the word I wrote is the one I intended to use. Not sure what the spacing issue is that I saw mentioned but I tried to change somethings to see if I fixed it.  
> And I'm glad everyone is liking this so far and I'm sorry the tags are a little vague. I didn't want to spoil any of my big reveals.

**Chapter Two: Second Meeting**

Stepping off the path Marinette headed into the woods, lifting the box over the bushes. The woods weren’t as dense once you got passed the bushed that lined the path and the tree cast just enough shadows to make even the hottest summer day feel cool. Her layers of skirts were too much for the bakery heat, but here in the woods Marinette felt more at home. Given the witchy rumors Lila loved to spread its hard to know if it was a good or a bad thing.

Fu lived far from the town in small cabin he had built with a previous partner who helped trapping and skinning to sell the furs in town. He had retired when his wife had gotten ill and after her death retreated to the cabin to live out his days in peace. As he got older the trip into town started getting harder and as Marinette got more isolated from her peers she was more willing to make the almost daily trips to bring him hot meals and other supplies.

She had become an expert at navigating the underbrush to Fu’s cabin and she knew to step around the sporadic plants that made up his garden. Instead of rows or any sort of organization he planted them in any small clearing and let the vegetables grow how nature intended. A few carrots here and a head of cabbage there, a particularly robust blackberry bush was trying to conquer the whole clearing. And if the wildlife ate his plants then it’s as it should be. Considering his cabin look half collapsed from the tree that was growing too close to the corner and was mostly covered in moss, his willingness to be part of nature and not the control of it was no surprise.

Marinette knocked on the door and entered at the soft come in.

“Fu? I have some pastries for you,” she called as she swung open the door.

The cabin only had a single room with a stone fireplace on one side and a cot tucked away behind a fabric screen. Fu looked up from his spot by the fire, lifting a kettle off of the hook with a towel wrapped hand.

“Ah Marinette, perfect timing as always. The tea is ready so take a seat while I pour.” Fu pointed to two bowls waiting with a ceramic kettle in the center of a table that was pushed against the wall under a small window. He added the hot water to the pre-prepared leaves and hung the pot back over the fire.

Marinette opened the box as she watched him putter around the small living area, moving the stool he had been sitting on and sliding a grate in front of the flames. She plated up a fruit danish for him and served the tea adding a swirl of honey to her own.

“How have you been? We haven’t gotten any orders from you for a few days and my parents were getting worried,” Marinette asked as Fu took his seat on the bench.

He blew on his tea, steam curling around his cheeks. “I am well, as I always am when you ask. I was feeling under the weather these past few daysbut it’s nothing to worry about.” He took a sip. “Tea helps the body heal.”

“Nothing to worry about?” Marinette shook her head. “I could have helped you. Made some soup to bring or something!”

Fu waved off her concerns. “You have too much street in your life to worry about the comfort of an old man.”

“But…” Marinette started.

“No arguments.” He nodded, the conversation over. “I do need your services to pick up some more fire wood. I’m getting too old to chop it myself. If you could find someone to do it for me you could take the cart to town to fill up or they could come here.”

Marinette sighed and drank her tea. She glanced at the chipped and rusted ax by the door. No one in their right mind would want to chop wood with it. She would have to borrow one from her parents and go out herself. It’s not like she had anyone to ask and she didn’t want to have Fu worry about her when he wouldn’t worry about his own health. She picked a stray leaf off her apron and watched it flutter from her fingers to the floor. Absently she thought about autumn starting in the next few months and having to start sweeping the leaves. She should stock up on some root vegetables for Fu and maybe some chicken bones for soup stock.

“…Marinette? Are you listening?”

Marinette jerked her head up, eyes wide as she made eye contact. “Sorry.” A blush bloomed across her cheeks. “I was thinking.”

Fu hummed. “Too much thought and you miss what is in front of you. I was asking what I owe you for the pastries.” He pulled some coins from a small pouch, counting them out on the table.

“Oh…um.” She checked her apron pocket. “I don’t remember.Five copper I think?”

He passed a silver piece to her, which she tried to hand back. “Save the rest for the fire wood.”

Marinette took the coin, adding it to her purse as she bit her lip. She finished her tea with some small talk about the gossip from town. She glossed over and toned down some things to sound less harsh, but animatedly recounted the details of the bride contest. She mentioned seeing the cat on her way to his place, but brushed aside his encouragement. He pushed her out as the day faded into the evening with more good luck wishes for catching the cat. Cats can read the truth in the soul after all. She waved as she left, skipping back up to the path and toward her own home. Her stomach grumbling a reminder that she hadn’t eaten lunch. Distantly she could see the lights from town and she upped her pace to a jog. She hitched up her skirt to keep from tripping on it but lurched forward when something grabbed the front of her shoe. Crashing onto her knees she glanced back to see a rabbit trap baited with some sort of meat. This close to town it wouldn’t catch any rabbits, especially not with meat. Marinette brushed off her hands and checked her foot when she noticed more traps on either side of the path into town, all baited with meat. These clearly weren’t for rabbits. But they might be perfect for a cat assuming the cord didn’t kill it. As she got back to her feet Marinette kicked the rest of the traps she saw and continued wrecking the ones she passed as she walked the rest of the way home. Her gut told her that Lila was the one setting the traps but realistically she had no proof.

The traps stopped once she got to the town square, but pick up again as she crossed the alley to her cottage. She opened the gate and glared at the one right next to her door. Letting her rage the the best of her she ripped it out of the ground and stomped it with a huff. She unlocked her door and hip checked it open. Before she could slam it closed again she heard a soft meow. Whipping her head around she saw the cat peeking out from under her bushes. It stared up at her and she stared back.

“Shoo! I don’t want to catch you. Go away!” She shook the top of the bush, hoping to scare it off.

At the motion the cat darted out and jumped up onto her fence. It continued to stare at her as she closed the door.


End file.
